September 2007

First off, brilliant website. Your responses, posts, everything shows that it has work put into it as well as thought, something I feel religion could use. Your idea to post hate mail is very good. They are humorous and show the ignorant side of Christianity, although that is NOT the only side of Christianity there is.

I am currently picking out a religion, Googlism seems to fit the bill just right for me. I would seriously be considered an atheist, but I’m sick of people like those who send you hate mail annoying me about being godless. Hearing, “You’re going to hell!” over and over is rather annoying. It saddens me that, like most of the people responding to your site to complain, don’t challenge my belief with anything other than “You’re gay if you don’t believe what I believe.” So, I’m going to play devil’s advocate (ironic, innit?)

1. The Cosmological Argument Premise 1: Everything that begins to exist has a cause.

Premise 2: The universe began to exist.

Conclusion 1: Therefore, the universe must have a cause.

Since an infinite can’t exist, and the universe is supposedly a beginningless series of events (which is an infinite), the universe must have been created by something or one. So, God could have created the universe.

2. The complexity of life. Not so much the beauty.. there are plenty of ugly complex things too. Our DNA strand is so long and so almost perfect. We can’t even begin to talk about the brain without getting stuck somewhere, it’s that complex. How can we have such complex things without a supreme being make us that way? Note that he could, probably, make us this complex at the snap of a finger, seeing how he could be so superior to us.

3. Miracles & Weird stuff Birth, specifically. The heart just starts beating, why? God could’ve made it start! And how about death? When we die, we lose a bit of weight. How do you explain that?! Huh!? HUH!!? (Sorry, had to)

4. Belief (honest debate) If all people believe in God, could that make him exist? If everyone believed that the sky was in fact red, then darn it, the sky is red. So, if everyone believed that God was real and existed, wouldn’t that make him real? Now, let’s shrink this down to one person. If I (for example) believed God was real, truly believed, then wouldn’t he be real in my reality, which is all that matters? You can do this with a lot of things. To me, the sky could be red, if I truly believed that, then the sky was red, in my reality. I think you can’t really prove that God doesn’t exist in anywhere other than your own reality. It is like seeing something. You see it, but no one else does. Something is usually wrong with you, but there is something there, in your reality. I could also believe that 1=2. It wouldn’t be true in other people’s realities, but in mine, it would. It’s a whole matter of perspective and your belief.

Thanks, keep up the good work. Don’t let the close minded get to you, though you seem to be far better at that than I am. Enjoy and I look forward to a response, if not, I’ll still read the site and laugh my butt off at the hate mail!

Quick answers to your arguments (with lengthier ones available if you deem them necessary).

1. If everything must have a cause then God must have a cause. If God can be uncaused, then the universe can be uncaused.

2. DNA isn’t close to perfect — there’s a lot of junk in there. Natural processes are completely capable of making complex things, they just need a lot of time. And our DNA looks more like something thrown together and sifted through over time than it does like something painstakingly designed.

3. The beating of the heart doesn’t seem that mysterious to me. It’s part of biological development. As for losing a bit of weight at death, is that even true? I’m skeptical.

4. I’ve always contended that personal revelation is a legitimate proof for the existence of God, but that it is I uncompelling to others. Your argument #4 says essentially this.

And finally, when people say “You’re going to Hell” how about answering, “Okay! See you later!”